Russia lifting all restrictions on pork

Starting from October, 15 Russia will lift all the restrictions on pork imports implemented in spring 2009 in order to prevent the spread of A/H1N1 in the country, sources in the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) have said.

By Evegen Vorotnikov

"Due to the fact that the disease is already spreading in Russia, the risk of importation of infected food products should be regarded as negligible.”

Following the outbreak of A/H1N1 in Mexico, Russia has consistently imposed restrictions on the importation of all the meat and meat products from such countries with high prevalence of the new virus such as Mexico, the United States, the Caribbean countries, Canada, Spain and the UK.

No risk of spread through meat
In May, the European Commission sent a letter to the Russian authorities, challenging the ban due to its "groundlessness". In particular, the EU representatives have drawn attention that there is no risk of possible spread of the virus through the meat.

However Russia, which has finally decided to lift the restrictions, still considers it as an appropriate measure designed to protect the meat market of the country.

"These measures justify themselves, while the disease appeared in Russia about three months later than in other European countries," according to official statement of Rosselkhoznadzor.